A Knight's Tale Movie Review

This movie blends modern day rock with medieval settings and futuristic costumes. I actually had to see this movie twice to decide if I liked it or not. Wanna know what the final decision was?

It's a trip - that's all I have to say. This movie blends modern day rock with medieval settings and futuristic costumes. It's like... whoa! I actually had to see this movie twice to decide if I liked it or not. Wanna know what the final decision was?

I liked it. Not as much as I had hoped but liked it just the same.

The story starts off typical. William Thatcher (played by the yummy Heath Ledger) is a servant to a lord who competes in jousting tournaments. Problem is the lord dies suddenly. William and his buddies haven't eaten in a while and rather than give up the prize money, William impersonates the lord and wins the prize - which means they all can eat.

William and his buddies decide this impersonating a knight thing is a good deal and they make up a title and a heritage for him. William kicks some serious butt while jousting but he has some problems to deal with - the evil Count Adhemar, a princess who plays him like a fiddle and a friend named Geoffrey Chaucer (a real life writer who is way famous now) who has a gambling problem. Rufus Sewell is great as the count, Shannyn Sossamon is okay as the princess but I think her hand maiden did a better job.

The movie is funny. Really funny. It's also pretty original - thanks to the soundtrack. They have the peasants in the jousting arena singing and clapping to We Will Rock You, they have a funky dance scene that starts off like a medieval ritual and turns into a choreographed disco dance to the tune of Golden Years by David Bowie. And Princess Jocelyn's costumes are modern - and kinda scary. I really doubt that a medieval princess wore see-through chiffon dresses and glitter make-up.
But the thing that really made me like this movie was its unpredictability. You really didn't know how it was going to end. In the last 20 minutes of the film I must have said, "Oh, they're going to end it like this" and I was wrong each time. To me, this is a good thing. I hate it when I can predict everything to the point where I think I coulda written the screenplay.

You'll go to A Knight's Tale to see the kick-butt jousting scenes and that hottie Heath. You'll go again because it's so full of twists, turns and jokes that you'll need two viewings to absorb it all.